A Masterpiece

THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON

The following is taken from part of the TV/Video version of Discussions on the Book of Mormon produced in 2008 by BYU TV.  (If the reader would like the full account, refer to that program at BYU TV. Org, which has the title, "The Structure of the Book of Mormon," under the "All Shows List" at the bottom of the page, then to Discussions on the Book of Mormon).  Participants included BYU Professors in Religious Education, namely, Keith Wilson, Todd Parker, Steven Harper and Andrew Hedges.  Some of the comments included:

"Which plates did Joseph Smith actually take with him from the Hill?  They are:

The plates of Mormon (also known as the gold plates) and the small plates of Nephi, (the small plates of Nephi were recorded 20 years after the large plates of Nephi).  The small plates of Nephi were actually attached to the gold plates. (See The Words of Mormon, chapter heading and verses 5-7.  There is only one chapter in the Words of Mormon).  It explains why they were attached.

Joseph didn't have the brass plates (which covered a period of time from about 4,000 B.C., or about the time of Adam, to the time of Jeremiah about 600B.C.) or the large plates of Nephi, (from about 590 B.C. to 385 A.D.) or the plates of Ether, from about 2,000 B.C. or the time of the Tower of Babel, to about 200 B.C. when the Jaredites were completely destroyed, save Coriantumr). The small plates covered a time from about 570 B.C to about 130 B.C.  The gold plates covered a time frame of about 300 A.D. to 421 A.D.

Let's help demonstrate what is happening here; if you take your left hand and hold the pages together from 1st Nephi to page 142 or the Book of Omni and then with your right hand hold from page 143 or The Book of Mosiah to the end of the book, what do we have in our left hand?  Joseph Smith's translation of the small plates of Nephi and it's in first person, (I, Nephi, being born of goodly parents, & But behold, I, Jacob and so forth).  What do we have in our right hand?  Joseph Smith's translation of Mormon's abridgement of the large Plates of Nephi.  That is, in 3rd person and he writes King Benjamin did this and so on.

What is the one page in the middle?  It is the Words of Mormon or Mormon's explanation and bridge between the two sections.  Joseph did not have the brass plates.  That information was copied to the small plates by Nephi.

That info included the writings of Isaiah, The allegory found in Jacob 5 of the tame & wild olive trees of the vineyard and the writings of Zenos and Zenock.  Mormon never abridges the small plates of Nephi.  He attaches them to the gold plates, also known as the plates of Mormon.

They also cover the same time frame as the lost or stolen 116 pages.  The Lord said that "there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel."  (D&C 10:45) This intimates that the translation that would replace the lost book of Lehi would be even better.

In the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith explained concerning the lost 116 pages of Lehi.  (By the way, those are 116 paper pages, not plates).  There he states:  that the Book of Lehi contained more than Lehi's secular history but also included the reign of the kings up to the Book of Mosiah, well over 400 years.  In other words, the small plates of Nephi were meant to replace the Book of Lehi.  This is what happens when you are dealing with a God that knows all. God knew that the 116 pages would be lost.  Joseph Smith was told to continue on from where he left off in the translation.  (D&C 10: 38-45)

When Nephi talks about the large plates he refers to them as the other plates because he is writing to us from the small plates of Nephi.  An excellent example of this is found in 1 Nephi, Chapter 9, verses 2 thru 6, wherein he says:

2. And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, (the small plates) behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates (the small plates) also are called the plates of Nephi. (Therein is the confusion, both the small & large plates are called the plates of Nephi, so we need to realize that these plates are the small plates and the other plates are the large plates).

3. Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates, (the small plates) for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people.

4. Upon the other plates (the large plates) should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people;

wherefore these plates  (the small plates) are for the more part of the ministry; and the other plates  (the large plates) are for the more part of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of my people.

5. Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates (the small plates) for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.  (We today know that the purpose was to replace the 116 pages that were lost, or rather, more specifically, stolen).

Professor Steve Harper has said, 'If the reader is confused at this point, let's notice that the Book of Mormon is clear on this.  It keeps track of these plates with clarity.  If it's hard for us to keep track of this or explain it, that's not the fault of the book.  Let's ask:  Could Joseph Smith be the author of all this?  It should be plain to see that the Book of Mormon is way too complex and eternally consistent for that to be the case.  The book never makes a mistake about confusing these plates or what comes from them.  Joseph Smith is the translator of the Book of Mormon but by no means the creator of it.

There is a joke by Mark Twain, when he read a little of the Book of Mormon, that if the phrase, "it came to pass," was removed from the Book of Mormon; it would be reduced to a pamphlet.  The phrase, "it came to pass" is used 198 times between 1st Nephi 1 to 2nd Nephi 5:30 because he's writing about the past and then he's caught up to date.   From 2nd Nephi 5:31 to the end of 2nd Nephi, he never uses "it came to pass."  The same thing occurs when Moroni is abridging the plates of Ether.  When he's talking about the past he uses the phrase but when he's up to his own time, he does not use the phrase.  It's consistent internally.

Twain also called the Book of Mormon, 'chloroform in print' but if he had read further he would have been shocked to know that there was a Book of 'Ether,' a synonym for chloroform.

Professor Steve Harper continues:  'However, let us remember that Nephi composes what he does and when he does because the Lord reveals to him to do so.  So does Moroni and compiles what he does.

 I want to attribute, then, the authorship of the Book of Mormon to the Savior.  He is definitely Editor-in-Chief, we could maybe give him that title.

The Book of Mormon is the most self conscious book I've ever read.  By which I mean to say, it's very purposeful.  The authors, the writers, the compilers of it; they know what they're doing because the Lord has directed them to do so.  It's purposeful because it leads us to Christ, to persuade us.  They knew many years before his coming that he was the Savior and to me the Book of Mormon is a masterpiece…

Brother Harper continues, 'And yet the Lord has to preserve individual agency.  Joseph Smith has to be free to hand over the 116 pages to Martin Harris.  So we see the Lord using his omniscience or all knowingness and still keeping his promises to the Book of Mormon people that he would preserve their record.  Some theologians would say, 'If God knows all, there is no such thing as individual agency.'  Yet Mormon shows us that it is just the opposite; that by knowing all, God's works and plans cannot be frustrated, including agency.'

In the Words of Mormon, verse 5, Mormon states that:

5. Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people.

Professor Todd Parker, speaking of the above verse mentions:  'For every 99 things Mormon left out from the record he puts one in.  Pres. Ezra Taft Benson continually reminded us that we should ask this question:  Why did he leave some parts out and put others in?

We have, for the most part one hundredth part of what was in the record.  People who get a little critical of the Book of Mormon ask:   Where is this?  Where are these ancient lands?

We don't know for sure.  It could be Central America.  I was there, sitting on top of a temple and the guide told me that they had excavated only about one percent of the ruins.  So if we have one percent of the record and one percent of the ruins, that sounds a whole lot like a 10,000 piece puzzle and we have 2 pieces. The motive is to teach us that Jesus is the Christ and not to do geography or teach us history.'"